A few words of warning when going down the green path…
Twenty years ago Estancia Los Potreros decided to join the modern world of electricity and move away from paraffin power and kerosene chaos. Without knowing the difference between an ampere, a watt or a volt we bit the bullet. What we did know was that due to our location, nowhere near the grid, energy would be alternative and green. It sounded great! Solar panels, windmills, water turbines; we wanted them all. We didn’t realize that alternative also meant a very expensive investment in a country where energy subsidies were non-existent.
Our first step was to install two 800watt windmills and a 4.500watt inverter whatever that was. 16 brand new what looked like car batteries came along as well! Deep cycle I was told. Cables went up, bulbs were installed, fridges and freezers were bought, even a television. Computers worked and a flashy satellite system connected us to the world. That is the internet world.
Soon we ran out of electricity.
The first fuel generator was bought as a backup. A charger was needed as well but wasn’t sure why. No wind in the summer. We switched to solar panels and even a water turbine. You needed water in quantity. We had a drought. We bought a second generator. Lightning struck and blew the whole system! So, an even more powerful generator was bought again. Our dream was over. 90% energy produced by fuel generation and 10% by a very expensive alternative mishmash of energy producing methods that did not work or we did not know how to make them work.
Along came Hector an electrician who specialized in alternative energies. More importantly he was a professor at a local university who could express most things electric in layman’s terms. Analogies of water filled pipes, diameters and pressure started to make things clearer. A limited amount of energy produced supplied a limited amount of needs. So, we started again. Bulbs were changed first to low consumption and then to LED. Fridges and freezers were thrown out. Televisions no longer. Freedom.
Today much of the old system is now used as a backup or as generation for outposts on the estancia. What filled a room is now a small box on a wall. Generators are virtually never used. Modern fridges and freezers returned. Water is heated by the sun. The use of gas has been halved and we have reached our original goal: 90% energy produced by alternative methods.
I am sure there will be many more adventures along the way!
